A Speechless Meeting
by Dust2Dust17
Summary: Neo recounts how she met Roman Torchwick under less than desirable circumstances. One-shot based off of Headcanon for my main fic, RWBY: Stolen Innocence, and part of my 100 prompt challenge-93: Tears


"What a stupid girl, challenging me like that." Neo thought, nonchalantly walking towards the beaten blonde girl on the floor of the train car. Producing the hidden blade in her parasol handle, she brought it over her head, ready to bring the blade down and through the heart of the boxer she had just exhausted and beaten to submission, when the unexpected happened. Looking up, she barely had time to react as a rift opened in front of them and a dark red blade was thrusted in her direction. Parrying it as she jumped back from her claimed kill, she looked up at her new opponent, terrified as she realized what they looked like. Dark red robes clothed her, while long thick black hair flowed from her head. She couldn't make out her face, for it was hidden by that mask, the mask she painfully recognized from that night years ago that caused her to retreat at the sight of it. Four eyeholes carved into it to make it look like a menacing albino Nevermore. Only to her, even with the crimson eyes she could be less scared of the real thing. The mask was what did it. It brought back haunting memories of that night. Waking up to somebody breaking something downstairs, going down to find her mother being beaten by mask-wearing men, seeing a puddle of red on the floor as they shifted their attention to the girl at the foot of the stairs, the chase, and finally the feeling of a sharp metal object being jammed into her throat before everything went black.

* * *

><p>Neo slowly opened her eyes, blearily staring up at the bright fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. She couldn't remember where she was, only what she experienced what was hours ago now. Looking to her left, she saw a plain looking nightstand, bearing only a lamp and a glass vase of wilting flowers. To her right was a window, covered with blinds at the moment, and an occupied chair. Someone she never had seen before was sitting in it, a man with bright orange hair in an immaculately white trench coat and a bowler hat. To his side, a cane lay propped up against the wall.<p>

"Oh, good. You're awake." he said, with something that sounded like insincere relief.

Neo opened her mouth to ask who he was, but scared herself when nothing but a strained breathing sound came out that burned her entire neck.

"Yeah, I probably should've warned you about that." the man said getting up from the chair by her bedside and pacing around the sterile white room. "Your voicebox apparently got torn up by the knife that asshole lodged in your throat. I'm sorry to say you're never going to be able to speak again. Or at least that's what the docs told me."

Neo was horrified. How was she ever **going** to communicate again? She had so many other questions, and no way to ask them. What happened to those people in masks that attacked her and her mother? How did she end up in a hospital when she was left to die in an alley? Noticing this, the man reached to a shelf on the lower part of the nightstand, producing a pen and a pad of paper.

Neo began scribbling on it as soon as both objects were in her hands. Once she was done, she showed the handwriting to the stranger. It was somewhat crude, as she didn't have very good penmanship for her age, but he was able to make it out:

"Where's my mom?"

He bit his lip and sighed before deciding to tell her the truth. "I found her back at the house those guys broke into. She's...she's dead."

Neo's whole world shattered around her as those words left his mouth. The only family she had was now gone, all from a group of greedy intruders who decided breaking into a house and stealing all their valuables was more important than another human's life. Tears welled up in her eyes as she burst out, silently crying into her hands. A small couple of pats on her shoulder signified the stranger giving her, or at least trying to, some comfort. She could tell he wasn't the type of guy that wasn't used to dealing with kids.

Which was true. He wasn't. He was an up and coming crime lord, but she didn't need to know that. Not yet at least. He was somewhat conflicted now. He knew he was in too deep already, staying by the girl's bed after bringing her to a hospital. Even he would've brought his injured associates to an underground clinic for criminals he knew, but something about this girl made him took pity on her. Looking at the patch of gauze wrapped around her neck, his old injury on his shoulder burned, gained when his dad broke his collarbone in five different places with his came back in the day. He felt some true sympathy for the girl despite his lack to show it. Maybe more so than he thought as he asked another question.

"I don't suppose you have anywhere to go or any other family, do you?" he asked. With a shake of her head, he sighed before asking his next one. "You don't have to, but if you want, I can take care of you."

She stopped crying enough to look up, confused. Why would a random person just decide to become her guardian out of the blue? It was better than being sent to an orphanage and waiting years for the possibility of finding a family, but she knew next to nothing about this man. She took up her pad and pen again, asking him "Why would you want to help me?"

He thought over her question for a moment. "To be honest, I see a lot of myself in you. I felt bad enough to not just leave you there after dealing with the dicks that did this to you, and I can't really leave an orphaned little girl in a hospital to deal with this herself, now can I?" he explained.

She mulled over his explaination and made a decision, giving a nod in confirmation. Before he could give a response, a knock on the door brought attention to a nurse standing in the room's doorway.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but visiting hours are over, sir." she announced.

"Ah, alright." he said, going to grab his cane. As he did and turned to leave, a strong tug on his free arm stopped him. They both turned to find Neo hugging his arm, as if saying she didn't want him to leave. He understood and looked over to the nurse for confirmation.

With a sweet smile and a sigh, she nodded. "I guess it'll be alright if you stayed with her." she said, giving in as she saw the look on the child's face.

With that said, she left and the man retook his position on his chair next to her bed. "You've got manipulative powers, kid." he sighed as he placed his hat on the nightstand.

Almost feeling insulted, Neo pouted and wrote something else down. "My name's Neo, not kid." it wrote.

The man chuckled. "Ok then, Neo." he corrected. "My name's Roman by the way. And I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello, friends and fans! Apologies to everyone expecting the next thing for me to put out was the next chapter of Stolen Innocence. It's coming, but I decided to start up a little something between chapters to keep ideas flowing. Which is why for the year of 2015, I'm taking a challenge to do 100 one shots as a side project, then full time after Stolen Innocence is finished. If you want to try it out too, here's the list:<strong>

1. Birth  
>2. Enthusiasm<br>3. Love  
>4. Hate<br>5. Triumph  
>6. Feel<br>7. Wrecked  
>8. Soft<br>9. Cold  
>10. Without<br>11. Inspiration  
>12. You<br>13. Confused  
>14. Affection<br>15. Joy  
>16. Horror<br>17. Acceptance  
>18. Sympathy<br>19. Holding  
>20. Defeated<br>21. Pride  
>22. Knife<br>23. Overwhelmed  
>24. Depressed<br>25. Adoration  
>26. Worship<br>27. Zeal  
>28. Light<br>29. Exhaustion  
>30. Obsession<br>31. Rage  
>32. Empty<br>33. Anger  
>34. Fury<br>35. Delight  
>36. Submission<br>37. Infatuation  
>38. Anticipation<br>39. Pessimistic  
>40. Jolly<br>41. Grasping  
>42. Agitation<br>43. Calm  
>44. Astonished<br>45. Loneliness  
>46. Lust<br>47. Longing  
>48. Tender<br>49. Hard  
>50. Rebirth<br>51. Amused  
>52. Broken<br>53. Abused  
>54. Tranquil<br>55. Composed  
>56. Glad<br>57. Stress  
>58. Serenity<br>59. Colorful  
>60. Coping<br>61. Boisterous  
>62. Placid<br>63. Tired  
>64. Bliss<br>65. Neglect  
>66. Fine<br>67. Question  
>68. Energetic<br>69. Noble  
>70. Disgust<br>71. Lively  
>72. Power<br>73. Pity  
>74. Humiliation<br>75. Satisfied  
>76. Thankful<br>77. Hyper  
>78. Goosebumps<br>79. Worthless  
>80. Remorse<br>81. Degraded  
>82. Revenge<br>83. Fulfilled  
>84. Shame<br>85. Graceful  
>86. Shining<br>87. Content  
>88. Feelings<br>89. Pleased  
>90. Relief<br>91. I  
>92. Zest<br>93. Tears  
>94. Building<br>95. Optimistic  
>96. Thrilled<br>97. Dealing  
>98. Reflect<br>99. Embarrassment  
>100. Death<p>

**As for this one, I'm already doing this way out of order but this is going in as my entry for prompt 93: Tears. I feel like I shouldn't need to explain why. I kinda teared up while writing it myself. Hope you guys liked it and good luck to whoever decides to join me in the challenge!**


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